Mattie Wang & Sophie de Serière
In April, Mattie Wang & Sophie de Serière started their residency at KAOS where they will work until the end of May. They were selected after the open call for the two residencies jointly organised by KAOS and workspacebrussels in 2023.
Mattie Wang
A question that has concerned me for some time: how can artistic work embody resistance and give way to individual and collective agency? I have been in search of practices grounded in a present and generous sense of place. Each encounter with such an object, person, or environment, affirms a view of this world as interdependent and indivisible. Each little story pieced together reveals the lie that capitalistic and colonial systems have deeply embedded in me. I believe there is still joy and hope to be found in the cracks and the folds.
The work that I have been drawn to is that which understands the sociality and performativity of our lived experiences — they seem to gently ask: how can this world be ever so different? more thoughtful? more engaged? more liveable? While my cynical response to ‘What do you do?’ is still ‘artist’, I do not believe art is the only place to find these answers. Said differently, I often find the most unannounced and invisible work to be the most radical. Amongst the messy overlaps, I cannot articulate a clear ‘position’ in my work and life, what is there is often an outcome of chance and exchange.
Sophie de Serière
Sophie's practice looks at instances of life and performance that cannot easily be seen or don't want to, like refuse. Refuse means to say no or to reject, but it also refers to what is thrown away or disappeared. Sophie has been using different materials like ashes, clay and hidden performances to understand memory and material transformation (or, what happens after).
Residency
During this residency, we would like to further explore our practice concerning dwelling. Dwelling alludes to both a place of residence, as well as a moment of pause or pondering. We are curious to what happens when we stay with someone or something for an extended period of time, and how we can understand our encounters as performances. We hope to pay attention to the things that are barely perceptible but nonetheless present and affective to its surroundings: chance encounters, daily routines, residues, things found on the street, dust on the counter-top. During our first week, we have made a magnolia syrup from the big tree in the KAOS garden, which by now has lost its flowers.
